The hall was thronged with people, all eager to hear their favourite star speak on the rising threat of cybercrime. Cameras flashed, conversations hushed, and anticipation grew as he walked onto the stage. What followed felt like a hydrogen bomb dropped into the room: a raw, painful account of what had recently happened to his daughter as she played an online video game.

The speaker, a veteran of the Bollywood industry now in his sixties, went on to share an incident that is becoming disturbingly common. Just a few weeks earlier, his young daughter had been playing a multiplayer online game. A fellow player, seemingly polite and supportive, began praising her skills, engaging her in light conversation, and slowly, disarmingly, asking personal questions: her location, her age, her gender. As the conversation continued, the tone shifted. The person on the other end asked her for nudes. Thankfully, the child had the presence of mind to exit the game immediately and tell her mother what had happened.

This disturbing episode highlights two critical realities.........

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